'A merry Christmas,' he says.
'The same to you,' replies Philippa.
'Are you going to walk home?' he asks.
'No, we are going back in a hansom.'
Here Teddy interrupts with, 'Did you know I've got a sister, you'll come and see her, won't you?'
'I shall be delighted,' replies Dalrymple, looking at Lippa, who has turned her head away. 'May I come?' he asks in a low voice.
But Miss Seaton does not answer, as Lady Dadford suddenly appears, 'Ah! my dear child,' she exclaims, 'how is the sweet mother and the baby?'
So a long string of questions ensues, and Philippa answers them, feeling that Jimmy is watching her, and suddenly she meets his eye, and there is a look of entreaty in them that makes her smile back; such a dear little tender smile, that it causes Dalrymple to start, while a new life seems to course through his veins.
Ah! what a great deal a pretty woman's smile may do, of good and often alas of harm.
How many men have been lured on by a smile and only too late have awoke from its enchantment. Oh, women, women, some of you hardly take into consideration what a great part you take in the world's drama; with you it lies to make or mar the lives of the men, be they brothers, husbands, sons or merely friends; it is in your power to make them God-fearing, true gentlemen; and it is you too, who drag them down till they become mere lovers of pleasure, giving way to every vanity, forgetting surely that they are human beings, with immortal souls!